Nicol not giving up on Olympics hope

Squash's top-ranked female player Nicol David bags Asian Games gold; eager for the sport to make it to the Olympics.

Tue Sep 23 2014 12:21:10 GMT+0000

Nicol has been number one for more than eight years [REUTERS]

Asian Games squash champion Nicol David really hates to lose and while her sport failed with its bid to get onto the 2020 Tokyo Olympics programme the Malaysian is not giving up that easily.

David beat compatriot Low Wee Wern in the Asian Games final in South Korea, earning her fourth singles gold, 16 years after winning her first in Bangkok.

A seven-time world champion and world number one for more than eight years, David says she has lost neither the desire to compete nor the thrill of winning.

David had been central to squash's bid to get onto the Olympic programme for 2020 but a decade of lobbying and dreams ended in heartache for the campaign last September when the IOC rejected the sport's bid.

In the vote, out of 95, wrestling polled an outright majority straight off with 49 votes, with baseball and softball polling 24 and squash earning 22 votes.

David hinted that squash's 2020 dreams were not dead in the water just yet.

"Maybe there's a chance or not, we just have to wait and see," the 31-year-old David said. "I hope to be involved some way to help the sport get in, even if I'm not competing anymore.

"I just want to see a squash player on the medal podium at the Olympics."